Sibelan Forrester
Kohlberg 340
tel. 610-328-8162
E-mail sforres1@swarthmore.edu
Home Page: https://forrester.domains.swarthmore.edu/>
A Zoom link for students in this class, in case of need, is provided on the course Moodle page.

Office Hours, Fall 2026:
Monday 1:00-2:00
Tuesday 2:00-3:00
Thursday 10:00-11:00
...or by appointment.

Translation is a fundamental human activity that takes place between languages, cultures, and forms of expression. Without translation, even the most erudite readers would have limited acquaintance with other cultures. Translation practice offers rich data for psycholinguists and neuroscientists, and stimulating possibilities for creative writers, while metaphors of translation has impacted many other kinds of intellectual and creative activity. Bringing literature and other cultural materials into "world languages" has important political implications as well. This course will combine theory and practice, approaching translation in its full complexity as art and science. Our reading, discussion and practice will draw on points of view from creative writing, linguistics, and literary theory as well as the growing discipline of translation studies.

Course Goals:

• To become familiar with the history of translation and theories of translation; to examine some of the most important theories and read fundamental texts in the literature.
• To relate translation (in its theory and its practice) to other disciplines in which we have or desire knowledge and experience.
• To choose and pursue individual translation projects, gaining a sense of what they require and accumulating a satisfying body of work.
• To develop an individual translation practice, enriched by theory and insights from translation studies and by conversations with classmates.
• To gain experience as a supportive reader and editor of other people’s work in progress (experience we may also apply to our own work in progress).
• To explore the use of AI/LLMs in transaltion (with a duly critical perspective).

Note: The course can be taken for either Social Science (Linguistics) or Humanities (English; Literature; Russian) credit. Be aware of the requirements your registration choice entails (see below), and adjust in time if necessary.

Fall 2026 Accommodations Statement
If you believe you need accommodations for a disability or a chronic medical condition, please visit the Student Disability Services website for details about the accommodations process. Since accommodations require early planning and are not retroactive, contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. You are also welcome to contact me privately to discuss your academic needs. However, all disability-related accommodations must be arranged, in advance, through Student Disability Services.

Required Texts (for sale in Bookstore, some available through TAP+, or online; there are also copies on reserve in McCabe):

• The Craft of Translation, eds. John Biguenet and Rainer Schulte (University of Chicago Press, 1989)
• Inside Translation: Translators on Their Work and What It Means, eds. Esther Allen and Susan Bernofsky (Columbia University Press, 2013)
• The Translation Studies Reader, 4th edition, ed. Lawrence Venuti (Routledge, 2021)
• Highly Recommended but not required: Exploring Translation Theories, 2nd edition, Anthony Pym (Routledge: 2014). This is super useful if you're interested in the evolution of translation theory (or of critical theory in general), but NOT required, and we won't refer to it unless someone asks.

Unless you prefer to work on paper, plan to bring a laptop or tablet to every class. (Laptops or iPads may be checked out for temporary use from the Language and Media Center, Kohlberg 326.)

Some of our course work can be done electronically, but if you prefer to use paper copies you may generate lots of paper. I'll also hand out paper when we do exercises in class. Plan to store it in a convenient way.
Save drafts for now in case you want to refer to them later: you may decide to change things in the middle of a project, and saving drafts lets you retrieve work you did earlier. This is especially important if you're using AI to generate a (surely badly flawed!) first rough draft. HAND IN all your drafts when you submit a completed translation assignment. If you like getting comments on paper, make enough copies to workshop for everyone in your small group, and keep their written comments until you've finished and handed in the project concerned. (For the final project I'll also ask you to hand in the versions with commented copies.) You may send the weekly drafts as email attachments to me and your group or use Google docs, which allows the accumulation of comments in a single document. Word processors may be incompatible, so all of this could require a bit of advance planning.
NB: I prefer to receive assignments electronically: my comments will be more legible, and I can painlessly keep a copy in case some day you want me to write you a recommendation. I find documents in MS Word extra convenient, but Google docs can work too.

About the Readings
You aren’t required to read every word of every text in the three required books, and there won’t be a quiz, but please at least skim each one to see what it’s about. Note what you find most interesting and useful, and read those chapters with close attention. Your practice will be elevated by knowledge of translation history and theory, and your grade will depend partly on your contributions to class discussion of the readings. Also, take time to glance ahead at readings for later in the semester; some students have told me they wished they had hit feminist or postcolonial perspectives much sooner than the chronological organization of some materials allowed. Be sure that every week you have something to contribute to discussion of the readings: a good question, a critical response...

ALTA:
I am asking everyone to join the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA), https://literarytranslators.org/. The student rate is a very reasonable $30 per year, and your $30 will cover a whole year after you join - so your membership and benefits will stretch into most of 2025. Membership gets you all kinds of ALTA e-mail, the journal TR (Translation Review), the chance to join the sometimes useful ALTAlk list, good access to the ALTA blog and the member database (gret way to find someone who works in your language(s)), and a great annual conference that this year will be in Portland, OR, on October 21-24. Every spring the organization has a competition for travel fellowships that support "emerging translators" (read: you), with financial support for attending the fall conference, and their emerging translator mentorship program, open from September for applications, covers a changing variety of languages.
If you need to discuss the finances of this requirement, please let me know individually.

The American Translators Association (ATA) is a marvelous organization that includes translators of all kinds (among them, many do at least some literary translation). See www.atanet.org. I can't suggest that you join because it costs a lot, even at the heavily discounted student rate, but if you become a professional translator membership will probably be essential. Of course, things are in an uproar now because of AI...

Each week we'll discuss required readings, critique and present work in progress, do a focused exercise (on-the-spot translation; editing a brief text, etc.). Class sessions will have a seminar break in the middle. After a few weeks, you'll begin to present your own work and research topics - ee the description below.
Your participation will determine the quality of everyone's experience.

REQUIRED SPECIAL THINGS:

In the last three weeks of the semester, or so, you will organize and perform in bilingual readings, ideally using material from your final portfolio (the fourth written assignment; see below), though there are other possibilities. If you have ideas about this at any point, note them down and bring to class. Translators tend to be more diffident than poets or fiction writers — even if they're also poets or playwrights or fiction writers! — so think in terms of excitement: how can you present your work and your author effectively.
There will be some special readings and lectures aimed at you earlier in the semester; attend these if you possibly can, or (if we record some) watch the recordings later.

Coursework and Grading:

Attendance and participation in class and discussion account for 20% of your grade, plus an additional 10% for the final bilingual reading(s), whose nature will emerge from our work in class. Moreover:

Two Oral Assignments:

1) At some point during the semester, you'll present and lead discussion of one book or article chosen from the Suggested list below (or found elsewhere; get instructor's approval if you find elsewhere). Study the list to find something you’ll care about and enjoy. Ask provocative questions, help field questions from class members. (What do you agree or disagree with, and why? What does this teach you about translation; what is its point of view? What does it omit? What is useful; what's merely interesting? How does it relate to other readings we have done, and/or to other important cultural issues?) You'll sign up for the presentations in advance. If you like I can suggest a book or article, or offer suggestions about making an effective spoken presentation and/or PowerPoint design. The Writing Center (ground floor of Old Science Hall) has Speaking Associates who are available for consultation. Great if the book, chapter or article you choose feeds into one of your other proejcts.

2) In the second part of the semester, you'll present an outline of your work in progress — your final paper topic, or the portfolio of annotated translations that you are preparing. Sign up to do this early enough for comments or suggestions to be still helpful. We'll start signing up for these in the second week of class.

Each oral presentation will count for 5% of your grade (10% total).

3) The final bilingual presentation will be shaped by your interests and could be in a form that allows your friends and family (and maybe even the author you're translating!) to hear you read the results, or even attend or participate in the reading. We'll work on arranging this together. (10% of your total grade, as noted above.)

Four Written Assignments:

1. First translation: one poem, lyrics of a song, or about one page of prose or drama. Find a native speaker or other expert (a professor is fine, a family member could be wonderful, a roommate might be ideal because of their accessibility) in a language you don't know, have them help you choose something and create a "trot" or interlinear version. They may or may not be able to help with it after that. We’ll workshop these during the first weeks of class. THEN! Run the original through the three LLM translators offered at the college, see how their versions differ from yours. If you can, show your informant and ask their opinion of the results. (Does one LLM do a better job across the board? Or a better job for certain languages?) Final version due SEPTEMBER 23. 5% of your grade.
   
2. The second written project: translate a set of 5-6 poems or songs (united by theme, author, literary movement, or the like), or a brief short story or piece of creative non-fiction, or a short play or scene from a play (aim for 6-10 pages), opr a reasonable section of some other text with recognizable style features (journalism or scholarship is fine; a scientific article might not be), with a page or so of information about the author/work(s)/tradition/linguistic challenges; due OCTOBER 21. 10% of your grade.
   
3. The third written project: Choose from two possibilities.
   1) Make a comparison of several translations, identifying the "hot spots" where you find the most difference among versions. Choose an original that has at least five or six translations into English available. (One of those can certainly be your own translation.) Write up the comparison in 1250-1500 words, of which at least 500 words total are your analysis, not quotations.
   2) Create an annotated, 2-3 page bibliography (in proper Chicago or MLA biblio format) of translations by other people (unified by some theme or area), or else of literary, critical or linguistic works (books, articles) on translation, unified by language group or theoretical approach. "Annotated" means that you comment on or evaluate each source you list, so you’ll need to read them (or at least skim) as well as find the citations. (If a source looks terribly relevant but you can't get your hands on it, go ahead and list THAT as the annotation.) If possible, use this to start up your final project. Let me know if you don't know how to get it moving, and remember that reference librarians are your friends!
   No matter which version, the third project is due NOVEMBER 18. 15% of your grade.
   
4. The fourth project, if you're taking this course for ENGLISH or RUSSIAN or LITERATURE credit, may be a longer portfolio of translations or a paper combined with a shorter body of translations. Consult with me and/or (if appropriate) another faculty member. Start choosing material and working on this early in the semester; it may include parts or all of your second project. Put together a 20-25 page portfolio including a 1-2 page "introduction"; or else a 10-15 page paper analyzing the theory, history, or practice of some issue or school of translation, supplemented with relevant translation(s) of your own (10-15 pages).
   If you're taking this course for LINGUISTICS credit, a substantial part of the final project must be a 10-15 page paper dealing with an appropriate issue in Linguistics — related to your (10-15 page) translation portfolio. Please consult with a facukty member in Linguistics before determining your paper topic. Let me know if you need suggestions re whom to contact. The readings you're assigned can also be a source of your bibliography and of inspiriting topics.
   Aim for 20-25 pages total in any case. Due by 11:59 p.m. on DECEMBER 19. 30% of your grade.
   I've put a link on the Moodle page for submission, in case that's easier for you than emailing me at 5 to midnight on the final day of exams!

Any of the written projects may be done in the form of a web page, if you prefer, or some other kind of online presentation. A blog (about your struggles with The Book of Genji?) can give readers immediate access to your work. (This will suit a research paper or translations of work now out of copyright more than translations of recent writing. You don't need permission to make a translation, but getting permission to publish/put online can be a big hairy issue.) We'll talk about this off and on in class.

On Reserve (in McCabe):

• Esther Allen and Susan Bernofsky, eds., In Translation: Translators on Their Work and What It Means
• John Biguenet and Rainer Schulte, eds., The Craft of Translation
• Robert Bly, The Eight Stages of Translation
• Anthony Pym, Exploring Translation Theories
• Lawrence Venuti, ed., The Translation Studies Reader, should be fourth edition but second and third have many of the same articles (though sometimes the page numbers differ)

Suggested Readings for bibliography, presentations, final papers (most are available in Tripod; check early in case you need to use Inter-Library Loan):

• Srinivas Aravamudan, Guru English: South Asian Religion in a Cosmopolitan Language
• Flora Ross Amos, Early Theories of Translation
• Matthew Arnold, On Translating Homer
• Anna Aslanyan, Dancing on Ropes
• Brian Baer, ed., Contexts, Subtexts and Pretexts: Literary Translation in Eastern Europe and Russia
• Mona Baker, In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation
• Mona Baker, Translation and Conflict: A Narrative Account
• Willis Barnstone, The Poetics of Translation: History, Theory, Practice
• Susan Bassnett, ed., Translating Literature
• Susan Bassnett, Translation
• Susan Bassnett, Translation Studies
• Hilaire Belloc, On Translation: The Taylorian Lecture, 1931
• Karen Bennett and Rogério Miguel Puga, eds. Translation adn Transposition in the Early Modern Period: Knowledge, Literature, Travel
• Kate Briggs, This Little Art
• Collaborative Translation: From the Renaissance to the Digital Age
• Computers and Translation: A Translator's Guide
• Michael Cronin, Across the Lines: Travel, Language, Translation
• Michael Cronin, Eco-Translation: Translation and Ecology in the Age of the Anthropocene
• Michael Cronin, Translation and Globalization
• Michael Cronin, Translation and Identity
• Lydia Davis, Essays One
• Lydia Davis, Essays Two
• Anuradha Dingwaney and Carol Maier, eds, Between Languages and Cultures: Translation and Cross-Cultural Texts
• Umberto Eco, Experiences in Translation
• Karen Emmerich, Literary Translation and the Making of Originals
• William Frawley, ed., Translation: Literary, Linguistic and Philosophical Perspectives
• Edwin Gentzler, Contemporary Translation Theories
• Bahaa-Eddin Abulhassan Hassan, Literary Translation: Aspects of Pragmatic Meaning
• Theo Hermans, ed., The Manipulation of Literature: Studies in Literary Translation
• Douglas Hofstadter, Le Ton Beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language
• Edward Honig, The Poet's Other Voice: Conversations on Literary Translation
• Juliane House, Translation: The Basics
• David Johnston, ed., The Stages of Translation
• Mariane Lederer, Translation: The Interpretive Model
• Andre Lefevere, Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame
• Lauren Leighton, Two Worlds, One Art: Literary Translation in Russia and America
• Suzanne Jill Levine, The Subversive Scribe: Translating Latin American Fiction
• Huang Libo, Style in Translation: A Corpus-Based Perspective
• Joseph Malone, The Science of Linguistics in the Art of Translation: Some Tools from Linguistics for the Analysis and Practice of Translation
• Rachel May, The Translator in the Text: On Reading Russian Literature in English
• Joshua Mostow, Pictures of the Heart: The Hyakunin isshu in Word and Image
• Kurt Mueller-Vollmer and Michael Irmscher, eds, Translating Literatures, Translating Cultures: New Vistas and Approaches in Literary Studies
• Jeremy Munday, Introducing Translation Studies
• Tejaswini Niranjana, Siting Translation: History, Post-Structuralism and the Colonial Context
• Perry Nodelman, Words about Pictures: The Narrative Art of Children’s Picture Books
• Gregory Rabassa, If This Be Treason: Translation and Its Dyscontents. A Memoir
• Alessandra Riccardi, ed., Translation Studies: Perspectives on an Emerging Discipline
• Paul Ricoeur, On Translation
• Douglas Robinson, Exorcising Translation: Towards an Intercivilizational Turn
• Douglas Robinson, Translation and Taboo
• John Sallis, On Translation
• Henry Schogt, Linguistics, Literary Analysis and Literary Translation
• Hans Schulte and Gerhard Teuscher, eds., The Art of Literary Translation
• Rainer Schulte and John Biguenet, eds., Theories of Translation: An Anthology of Essays from Dryden to Derrida
• Naomi Seidman, Faithful Renderings: Jewish-Christian Difference and the Politics of Translation
• Sherry Simon, Gender in Translation: Cultural Identity and the Politics of Transmission
• George Steiner, After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation
• Translation and Power
• Translation: Theory and Practice in Dialogue
• Translation: Theory and Practice, Tension and Interdependence
• Translation and Nation: Towards a Cultural Politics of Englishness
• Translation and the Law
• Lawrence Venuti, ed., Rethinking Translation: Discourse, Subjectivity, Ideology
• Lawrence Venuti, The Translator's Invisibility: A History of Translation
• V. N. Voloshinov, Marxism and the Philosophy of Language
• Louise von Flotow, Translation and Gender: Translating in the "Era of Feminism"
• Sergio Gabriel Waisman, Borges and Translation: The Irreverance of the Periphery
• Rosanna Warren, ed., The Art of Translation: Voices from the Field
• Robert Wechsler, Performing Without a Stage: The Art of Literary Translation
• Michelle Woods, Censoring Translation: Censorship, Theatre, and the Politics of Translation
• Chantal Wright, Literary Translation
• Steven G. Yao, Translation and the Languages of Modernism: Gender, Politics, Language

It's never a bad idea to look at the books on the shelf next to one you have identified as interesting. The old tactic of riffling through the card catalog... It's possible to do this on Tripod, but you have to want to and figure out how. One more reason to consult a librarian!

Online material (just a brief selection):

• Asymptote Journal https://www.asymptotejournal.com/ - such a clever metaphor for translation!
• TWO LINES: a journal of translation www.catranslation.org/journal/#display-tile
• Words Without Borders: the Online Magazine for International Literature wordswithoutborders.org
• World Literature Today www.worldliteraturetoday.org/
• Modern Poetry in Translation modernpoetryintranslation.com/
• Translation Journal: check Tripod
• Tripod includes other online resources; check them out if you have a particular interest. A reference librarian, again, can always be helpful.
• ...(earn valuable points by suggesting other online translation resources!)

In McCabe reference section:

Peter France, ed., The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation
(PR131 .O94 2000) — besides info on individual languages and literatures, he has a sizable section on History and Theory of translation into English.

SYLLABUS

WEEK 1:

September 2: What makes you start translating?
Introduction to the course; overview of readings and assignments; why paper copies for work with drafts; establish small groups for the first assignment; Forrester's Five Stages; Bly's Eight Stages; identify language groups in the class; work on a sample translation draft; discussion of AI in translation and a visit from librarian Amanda Licastro

Readings for Week 2: "Introduction," The Craft of Translation, pp. vii-xvi; Gregory Rabassa, "No Two Snowflakes Are Alike: Translation as Metaphor," Craft 1-12; “Introduction,” In Translation, pp. xiii-xxiii; "Introduction," The Translation Studies Reader, pp. 1-9; "Foundational Statements," TSR 13-23; [Zhi Gian?], "From the Preface to the Sutra of Dharma Verses," TSR 25-26; Dao’an, "From the Preface to A Collation of the Perfection of Great Wisdom Sutra," TSR 27-28; Jerome, "Letter to Pammachuis," TSR 29-38; Nicolas Perrot d'Ablancourt, "Prefaces to Tacitus and Lucian," TSR 39-45; John Dryden, "From the Preface to Ovid's Epistles," TSR 46-5; optional: Friedrich Schleiermacher, "On the Different Methods of Translation," TSR 51-71.
Before Sept. 9: find a native speaker, choose a poem or other appropriate text in their language, working with them make a "trot" or interlinear version (save it and all your drafts to hand in on September 23!), develop that into a draft, bring enough paper copies to workshop OR be prepared to share online. I'm happy to give comments if you send me a draft in time.

WEEK 2:

September 9: Which famous writers began as translators?
Introduce everyone again, esp. anyone who wasn't here the first week; "false" translation; in small groups present and workshop the text chosen for first project; what is translation theory?; discuss the Introductions and the various readings; example of formulating a research paper project: translations of Ukrainian poetry

Readings for Week 3: Margaret Sayers Peden, "Building a Translation, the Reconstruction Business: Poem 145 of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz," Craft 13-27; Peter Cole, "Making Sense in Translation: Towards an Ethics of the Art," In Translation 3-16; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Translations," TSR 72-74; Friedrich Nietzsche, "Translations," TSR 75-76; Lin Shu, "Paratexts to a Record of the Black Slaves' Plea to Heaven," TSR 77-80; "1900s-1930s," TSR 83-88; Walter Benjamin, "The Translator's Task," TSR 89-97.
For Sept. 16, find someone's translation you like (1 page, or a 1-page excerpt of something longer), bring in enough copies for everyone OR scan it/find it online so you can send or project it digitally, and be ready to explain what you like about it.

WEEK 3:

September 16: Why don't translators (usually) use pseudonyms?
Discuss the readings; work up poem draft from a trot I'll provide; talk briefly about the second project; workshop first translation; form new small groups by language for the second written project.

Readings for Week 4: Burton Raffel, "Translating Medieval European Poetry," Craft 28-53; Eliot Weinberger, "Anonymous Sources (On Translators and Translation)," In Translation 17-30; David Bellos, "Fictions of the Foreign: The Paradox of 'Foreign-Soundingness'," In Translation 31-43; Ezra Pound, "Guido’s Relations," TSR 98-105; Jorge Luis Borges, "The Translators of The One Thousand and One Nights," TSR 122-35; "1940s-1950s," TSR 139-42; Vladimir Nabokov, "Problems of Translation: Onegin in English," TSR 143-55.
For Sept. 23, polish off the first translation; start work on a piece or two of the second project, be ready to describe it, bring/prepare least one page or small piece for workshopping. Prepare some good questions for our visitor, Professor Ophelia Hostetter.

WEEK 4:

September 23: How is translating related to creative writing?
Discuss the readings; read your first translation aloud to the class and describe your experience and results; "translation" from English into English; workshop part of second project in small groups; a visit from Professor Ophelia Hostetter.

Presentations:

Readings for Week 5: Edmund Keeley, "Collaboration, Revision, and Other Less Forgivable Sins in Translation," Craft, 54-69; Michael Emmerich, "Beyond, Between: Translation, Ghosts, Metaphors," In Translation 44-57; Roman Jakobson, "On Linguistic Aspects of Translation," TSR 156-61; "1960s-1970s," TSR 165-70; Eugene Nida, "Principles of Correspondence," TSR 171-85; George Steiner, "The Hermeneutic Motion," TSR 185-690.
For September 30, bring another part of your second project for workshopping. Start thinking about your final project – what does your work so far suggest you'd enjoy? Think about the elements in translations you like and prepare to talk about that in class.

WEEK 5:

September 30: How have theories of translation evolved over the centuries?
Discuss readings; describe your second project to the class; translate a song; workshop more of second project

Presentations:

Readings for Week 6: Donald Frame, "Pleasures and Problems of Translation," Craft 70-92; Catherine Porter, "Translation as Scholarship," In Translation 58-66; Alice Kaplan, "Translation: The Biography of an Art Form," In Translation 67-81; Itamar Even-Zohar, "The Position of Translated Literature within the Literary Polysystem," TSR 191-96; Gideon Toury, "The Nature and Role of Norms in Translation," TSR 197-210; "1980s," TSR 213-18; Hans J. Vermeer, "Skopos and Commission in Translational Action," TSR 219-30.
For Oct. 7, bring enough copies of another draft/drafts of your second project for workshopping. Start annotated bibliography OR consult with professor about a project comparing translations.

WEEK 6:

October 7: What if the text to be translated is religious?
Discuss the readings; another "false translation;" describe elements like to see in a translation and why; small groups: workshop whatever still needs workshopping in your second project. I am happy to write comments on drafts or type comments into Word or Google docs, etc., if you send them in time.

Presentations:

... though the break is a great time to be reading for future projects or tinkering with drafts/finding writers you like.

Readings for Week 7: John Felstiner, "'Ziv, that light': Translation and Tradition in Paul Celan," Craft 93-116; Esther Allen, "The Will to Translate: Four Episodes in a Local History of Global Cultural Exchange," In Translation 82-104; Forrest Gander, "The Great Leap: César and the Caesura," In Translation 107-117; André Lefevere, "Mother Courage's Cucumbers: Text, System and Refraction in a Theory of Literature," TSR 231-46; Antoine Berman, "Translation and the Trials of the Foreign," TSR 247-60.
For Oct. 21, find a work that has been translated several times from a language you know and bring a small section (a stanza, a few lines of a play, or a paragraph of prose). Start thinking about what you'd like to do for your final project.

WEEK 7:

October 21: What if the writer's so GREAT that the text might as well be religious?
Discuss the readings; compare different versions of a single work and discuss. Read part of your second project aloud to the class.

Presentations: I'll be leaving early to head to ALTA (!), so probably not a grea

Readings for Week 8: William Weaver, "The Process of Translation," Craft 117-24; Maureen Freely, "Misreading Orhan Pamuk," In Translation 117-16; José Manuel Prieto, "On Translating a Poem by Osip Mandelsam," In Translation 127-142; Lori Chamberlain, "Gender and the Metaphorics of Translation," TSR 261-75; "1990s," TSR 279-88; Annie Brisset, "The Search for a Native Language: Translation and Cultural Identity," TSR 289-319.

For October 28, formulate your plans for the final project so you can gather what you need for it as you're working on the annotated bibliography or translation comparison.

WEEK 8:

October 28: What is your relationship to past and future translators?
Discuss the readings; describe what you're doing for the third project; update on the ALTA conference: what I saw that might interest you. Work with a trot. Start strategizing on final bilingual readings/publications. Bring a piece of your final (fourth) project to workshop.

Presentations:

Readings for Week 9: Christopher Middleton, "On Translating Günter Eich's Poem 'Ryoanji'," Craft 125-41; Christi A. Merrill, "Are We the Folk in This Lok? Translating in the Plural," In Translation 143-55; Jason Grunebaum, "Choosing an English for Hindi," In Translation 156-68; Gayatri Chakrovorty Spivak, "The Politics of Translation," TSR 320-38; Kwame Anthony Appiah, "Thick Translation," TSR 339-51.
For Nov. 4, find a translation you think is problematic, be ready to share an illustrative bit or two in class and talk about it.

WEEK 9:

November 4: What if your translation will most likely be "the last word"?
Present the translation you find problematic, with a few vivid details chosen to illustrate your points; discuss the readings; briefly describe final project plans; in small groups: discuss final project shape in more detail, field questions and get suggestions.

Presentations:

Readings for Week 10: Edward Seidensticker, "On Trying to Translate Japanese," Craft 142-53; Ted Goossen, "Haruki Murakami and the Culture of Translation," In Translation 183-186; Keith Harvey, "Translating Camp Talk: Gay Identities and Cultural Trasfer," TSR 352-72; Jacques Derrida, "What Is a 'Relevant' Translation?" TSR 373-96; "2000s and Beyond," TSR 399-405.
For Nov. 11: Bring part of final project ready to workshop. Be ready to describe the results of your transalation comparison or bibliography to the class.

WEEK 10:

November 11: What literary or cultural theories have sprung from translation practice or theory?
Discuss the readings; bring part of final project and workshop in small groups; discussion of helpful theories; strategize, schedule and plan student bilingual readings/publication. Did anything change as you were completing your third project?

Presentations:

Readings for Week 11: Lawrence Venuti, "Translating Jacopone da Todi: Archaic Poeties and Modern Audiences," In Translation 187-208; Pascale Casanova, "Consecration and Accumulation of Literary Capital: Translation as Unequal Exchange," TSR 407-423; Ian Mason, "Text Parameters in Translation: Transitivity and Institutional Cultures," TSR 424-35; Vincente L. Rafael, "Translation, American English, and the National Insecurities of Empire," TSR 436-52.
For Nov 18: bring another part of final project to workshop.

WEEK 11:

November 18: What is the translator's relationship to the writer?
Discuss the readings; workshop another draft from final project in small groups; describe the shape of fiak projects (both papers and final portfolios), gather comments and suggestions. Finalize plan and confirm dates for final bilingual reading(s) or publication.

Presentations:

Readings for Week 12: Richard Sieburth, "'Ensemble discords': Translating the Music of Scève's Délie," In Translation 209-22; Susan Bernofsky, "Translation and the Art of Revision," In Translation 223-233; Carla Nappi, "Full. Empty. Stop. Go: Translating Miscellany in Early Modern China," TSR 453-65; Karen Van Dyck, "Migration, Translingualism, Translation," TSR 466-85.
For November 25, have almost all of your final project drafted, and bring a new piece to workshop. This is your chance to ask final questions of everyone together.

WEEK 12:

November 25: How are (are?) translation theory and practice gendered?
Discuss/critique first student bilingual reading, if it already took place: individual pieces and overall impressions; discuss the readings; talk about the translation biz; creative exercise; further planning for bilingual readings that haven't yet taken place, or for publication. Workshop another piece of the final project.

Presentations:

Readings for Week 13: Clare Cavanagh, "The Art of Losing: Polish Poetry and Translation," In Translation 234-44; Lawrence Venuti, "Genealogies of Translation Theory: Jerome," TSR 486-505.
Attend and participate in the final bilingual readings!

WEEK 13:

December 2: Who is your favorite translator?
Discuss the readings; brief presentationsf from final projects; describe your future translation plans.

TBA.

What will you do now?

Swarthmore is committed to ensuring our digital spaces are accessible to everyone. If you have any accessibility issues with this site, please contact us.